There's Always a Way
by Rosie Wildwood
Summary: A 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' fanfic has anybody even seen it? Two roommates end up harboring Thomas Jerome Newton in their apartment because people are after him for experiments again. Not entirely sure where this one's going...any suggestions?


Rain pelted the empty street. It dripped from Erin's short blonde hair into her eyes. She was shivering in a tank top and thoroughly soaked jeans; her raincoat was now sheltering the young man standing beside her. His face was hidden by the coat's hood as she led him down the deserted sidewalk towards a small camera shop. The sign in the window read, 'Closed'.

"Damn," murmured Erin; she had sincerely hoped to get out of the rain that day without any complications. She started banging on the door.

"George? You in there? It's Erin, open up!" she shouted. The lock clicked, and the face of George, the old owner of the shop, peeked outside. He looked disapprovingly at Erin's dripping clothes, then at the stranger wearing her raincoat.

"You should have been in by closing time," he said, then let them inside. The stranger hesitated in the doorway, looking nervously around the shop. The only light came from the streetlamp outside. Erin motioned for him to follow her.

"I live upstairs. Come on!" she said impatiently. It had been a long day, and as soon as she found this guy a place to crash, she could take a shower and get something dry to wear. She led him up the flight of stairs behind the shop counter. He paused again as he noticed George giving him dark looks from across the shop. Erin turned to roll her eyes at George.

"Don't mind him, he's a cranky old git," she murmured to the stranger as she unlocked the door to her apartment and ushered him inside.

The apartment was dark and silent. "Good, Chloe's asleep," she sighed to herself; if there was one thing she didn't need, it was her roommate questioning her about why she was out so late, and what sort of weird person she had brought home this time. She flicked on the light in the living room and flopped into the nearest armchair.

"Well, this is it," she said, gesturing to the room. The walls were beige, the carpet was light blue, and the sofa and armchairs were dark red. Erin had to admit that she and Chloe had done a nice job of designing it, considering the dump it had been when they moved in.

"You can hang up the coat, over there." Erin pointed to a coat rack by the door, too tired to move from her chair right away. "My roomie's asleep, so don't be too loud," she said, knowing that it probably wasn't necessary, seeing as her guest hadn't said a word since they had arrived at the shop. No, wait, she thought to herself, he hadn't said a thing since the brief conversation they had when she had met him. Chloe would have thought he was leaning towards the odd side. What was worse, she would have assumed he and Erin were dating. She looked over at him from her chair. Now, what was it about him that was so familiar?

"By the way, I'm Erin," she said as the stranger hung the blue raincoat on the rack. For the first time since they had met earlier that evening, he answered.

"I'm Tom," he said quietly, sitting down on Erin's sofa. Suddenly, her eye fell on one of Chloe's record albums. Then, she looked back at Tom. The two faces were almost identical. Bold lettering across the top of the album read 'Thomas J. Newton'. It must have been a coincidence, she thought; Quite a coincidence, but a coincidence all the same.

Then again, he did seem so familiar.

"Did anyone ever tell you, you look just like Tom Newton?" she asked, looking again at Tom and trying to convince herself that they weren't the same person. Tom smiled meekly.

"well, as far as I know…I am," he replied. Chloe was stunned.

"The musician?" she said, a bit louder than she'd intended. Tom nodded.

"That's _you!?_" Erin pointed at the record which Chloe had carelessly left propped against the turntable.

"Yes," said Tom calmly. Erin sighed and fell back in her armchair. This really had been quite a day. She decided now wouldn't be the best time to tell him that her roommate was his biggest fan. Instead, she stood up and started for her room.

"I need some dry clothes," she said, "You just stay here and…uh…make yourself comfortable." She noticed Tom's dripping clothes. _Of course, _she thought, _he was out in the rain; he's as wet as I am._

"I'll get you something too, if you'd like," she offered. "Thank you," he said before she disappeared into her room.

Thankful that Chloe had her own room, Erin flicked on the light and began rummaging through her dresser. Finding her own clothes was easy; jeans and a t-shirt never failed. Finding clothes for Tom wasn't so easy; when she said she'd get him something dry to wear, it hadn't occurred to her that she and Chloe didn't own any men's clothing.

After quite some frustration, she finally emerged with a plain black shirt which was too big for Chloe, and a pair of Chloe's black pants. It was a touch feminine, but it would have to do.

She came back to find Tom, still sitting where he had been. His hair and clothes were leaving a wet stain on the sofa. She set Chloe's outfit on the small coffee table.

"It's the best we've got….it's just for one night," she said sheepishly.

"Thank you very much," he said, taking the black bundle of clothes and looking around the room for the nearest bathroom.

"Down the hall and to the right," said Erin, before slumping into her armchair again, glad to be off of her feet.

"Well, Erin, you've really got yourself a plateful," she sighed to herself when Tom was out of earshot, "Think of all the girls who are gonna hate you because Thomas Jerome Newton decides to crash at your place!" _Well, at least he'll be leaving tomorrow,_ she thought, _one night shouldn't be too much trouble, to help a guy out. Even Chloe won't have to know about this. No autographs, no Chloe spazzes, no problems…_

_…Chloe's gonna kill me for this. _Tom had finished getting changed, and was standing in the hallway in Chloe's outfit. Surprisingly enough, it looked pretty good on him, and much, much dryer.

"Hmm, not bad at all!" said Erin as they returned to the sofa, "Chloe's gonna be pretty mad I didn't wake her up for this." Tom was busily trying to dry his hair, with no success.

"I can't seem to get dry," he murmured, squeezing drops of water from his amber-coloured hair. _Lucky, I always wished my hair was redder,_ thought Erin.

"Oh, go ahead and use the hair dryer! It's in the bathroom," she replied. "You don't mind?" he asked quietly. "Well, I'm not using it, am I?" Said Erin.


End file.
